Mauricio Amster Cats (1907–1980) was born in Lemburg and died in

Santiago, Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital (political), capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated Regions of Chile, region, t ...

. He was a

typographer Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line-spacing ( leading), an ...

calligrapher Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

, illustrator, graphic artist and designer, educator, writer, translator, and book collector who designed more than 500 books in Chile.

Early life

Amster was born into a

Sephardic Jewish Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefar ...

family and finished his bachelor education in Lviv. In 1927, he left for Austria, leaving his family behind (his parents died in the Nazi concentration camp in Belzec). Shortly after arriving in Vienna, he was unable to continue his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts; he left for Berlin, where he studied at the

Reimann School The Reimann School of Art and Design was a private art school which was founded in Berlin in 1902 by Albert Reimann, and re-established in Regency Street, Pimlico, London in January 1937 after persecution by the Nazis. It was the first commercia ...

between 1927 and 1930. In Depression-ravaged Germany, he could not find work and subsequently moved to Madrid, Spain.

Life in Spain

He worked as a freelance artist for publishers Dedalo, Oriente, Zeus, and Ulises. Before mid-1936, he joined the Communist Party, and in his position as the person "responsible for transport of the National Artistic Treasure" traveled to

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

, protecting paintings evacuated from the

Museo del Prado The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...

. In July 1937, he participated in the Congress of Anti-fascist Intellectuals, where he met Chilean poets

Vicente Huidobro Vicente García-Huidobro Fernández (; January 10, 1893 – January 2, 1948) was a Chilean poet born to an aristocratic family. He promoted the avant-garde literary movement in Chile and was the creator and greatest exponent of the literary m ...

and

Pablo Neruda Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda (; ), was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Nerud ...

, who since 1935 had been a

cultural attaché A cultural attaché is a diplomat with varying responsibilities, depending on the sending state of the attaché. Historically, such posts were filled by writers and artists, giving them a steady income, and allowing them to develop their own creat ...

in the Chilean embassy. He worked in the Ministry of Public Instructions and Arts, where he developed the famous "''Cartilla''", an ideological elementary textbook for uneducated soldiers of the Republican Army (published in October 1937 with 125,000 in the initial edition, translated to many languages). He married Adina Amenedo and escaped with her from Barcelona, crossing to France on January 24, 1939 to avoid being arrested by the troops loyal to General

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War ...

Life in Chile

He left Europe on board the from Bordeaux, France, on August 1, 1939, with 2,200 immigrants helped by Pablo Neruda and the Chilean government. They arrived a month later in

Valparaíso Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...

. He started his career in Chile designing the arts and literary criticism journal ''Babel'', then worked for the publishing house Cruz del Sur, and finally worked as an art director with the publishing house Zig Zag until 1947. He later developed an intense professional link with the publisher Universitaria (publisher of ''Anales'' and ''Revista de Filosofia'' at the

University of Chile The University of Chile ( es, Universidad de Chile) is a public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

and books such as ''Mis viajes'' of

Ignacy Domeyko Ignacy Domeyko or Domejko, pseudonym: ''Żegota'' ( es, Ignacio Domeyko, ; 31 July 1802 – 23 January 1889) was a Polish geologist, mineralogist, educator, and founder of the University of Santiago, in Chile. Domeyko spent most of his life, and ...

). He also worked as a professor of graphic arts. He founded the School of Journalism, Communication Science and Technology, with Ernesto Montenegro. He worked for the publisher Editorial del Pacifico. Amster died in 1980 in Santiago, Chile.

References

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Bibliography

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Amster Cats, Mauricio Chilean designers Chilean Sephardi Jews Chilean people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent 1980 deaths 1907 births Artists from Lviv Polish emigrants to Spain Spanish emigrants to Chile Book designers Polish graphic designers Typographers and type designers 20th-century calligraphers Graphic artists Polish illustrators 20th-century Sephardi Jews Ukrainian Sephardi Jews 20th-century Chilean male artists